Apple says DOJ’s e-book penalties put it at a disadvantage

It’s the second time the Department of Justice (DOJ) has taken a stab at penalizing Apple Inc. for its e-book misdeeds, but the software giant is still crying foul.

After the DOJ won an antitrust lawsuit against Apple over its e-book sales in July, the agency filed a reform proposal that included a 10-year injunction, an internal antitrust monitor to oversee Apple’s e-book sales practices and a requirement allowing other e-book retailers, such as Amazon, to link to their e-book stores from iOS apps.

Apple immediately expressed concern that the proposal was vague, overreaching and unwarranted, and asked Judge Denise Cote, who has been handling the ongoing litigation, to have the DOJ try again. Cote sent both parties away to find common ground and report back to her.

When the DOJ came back earlier this week with what Apple views as a weakly revised set of penalties – cutting the injunction time and easing up on the requirement for rivals to link to e-book stores in iOS apps – Apple lawyer Orin Snyder filed a letter with the court.

Snyder said the DOJ’s revised remedies are a “broadside masquerading as a brief” and ignored Cote’s instructions to find common ground. Snyder asked Cote to order the DOJ to withdraw its latest proposal and instead, do what the court had asked it to do.

Yesterday, Cote asked both side to meet and produce and injunction she can sign next week.